In addition to gathering resources, David's trips into the mines had allowed him to perform a bit of reconnasense. Actually, he had just wanted to get an assessment of the number of guards and the number of slaves that were at work in the tunnels. His soul perception was strong enough to cover an area the size of the oasis town, so he had no trouble viewing the portions of the mines where workers were present.

Surprisingly, the slave miners outnumbered the guards by approximately ten slaves per every guard. Most of the slaves were early Foundation Stage. However, a few slaves that David noticed were actually at the peak Foundation Stage. It was a considerable group of soldiera if looked at as a fighting force. In total, the mines had about a hundred slave and only ten guards. Well...there were actually twelve guards counting Head Guard Helio and the door guard just outside the mines.

In David's reconnasense, he also observed the function of the guards and their routines. The guard operation was pretty simple. The slaves worked in groups of three slaves that were supervised by one guard. Each guard supervised three groups of slaves in one tunnel at a time. The guard would make trips through the tunnel daily to check on each group.

The mine guards ran on a 10 day shift. One guard would supervise the slaves for 10 days. At the end of the 10 days, the guard would report back to Head Guard Helio with the findings from the shift's mining labor. Then, that shift of guards would swap out with a new group of guards. It all ran on 10 day cycles and was most likely done to help the guards keep their sanity. The slaves were not as lucky. They worked everyday and some had been in the mines for years without seeing the surface.

While working, both the slaves and the guards would sleep in the tunnels during the 10 day shift. The guards had the benefit of a cushy mat that they carried on their supply pack....the slaves just slept on the hard floor of the tunnels. The only guard that left for the outside every night was Head Guard Helio. He would leave the mines, check in with Mr. Harver, then sleep in an apartment inside Mr. Harver's mine building....usually with one of the slave women.

Besides his observations of guard behavior, David made special note of a few of the slave miners with interesting characteristics. Some of the men were obviously men who were once guards or fighters of other organizations on Earth. From what David could tell, the Diego Family wasn't necessarily purposefully slave traders....they were more like the Earth family that helped everyone else "disappear" people....and somehow that made its way to becoming a slave trade business....most likely someone in the family realized that just outright killing people would not really have any benefit.....a profit could be made selling people instead of killing them.

David learned a lot from just listening in on the events in the tunnels. Some of the slaves liked to talk during their time without direct guard supervision. One of the slaves was a peak Foundation Stage that came from the deserts on Earth. Another slave was a peak Foundation Stage rogue cultivator that had thought he was getting a free ticket to The Other...then was turned into a slave against his will. There was a even a group of three brothers that came from Greenland. Each of the slaves had their own stories, but had one thing in common....they hated the Diego Family that had forced them into slavery.

David's purpose for all this observation was that he wanted to know if the guards posed a threat....and if the slaves seemed like the kind that would rebel against their captors.

Since his exit from the hospital, David had completed four full trips into the mines. On this trip...his fifth trip....he decided that he had planned enough and needed to put some of those plans in motion.

As a test of the slave's willingness to revolt, David walked up to a group of miners when he first entered the tunnel on this trip.

"Excuse me," David asked.

The miners just ignored him.

"Hey Chuckie, what are you digging?" David taunted one of the men. This man was a late foundation stage cultivator named Chuck. David knee his name from his previous observations. This man had been in the mines for years. Chuck also seemed to frequently get in trouble with Head Guard Helio, but because he was at the peak stage.....the guard actually couldn't hurt him without using the full force of the collar.

"What the fuck did you just call me?" the scraggly man said with a bit of anger in his voice.

"Nothing....I just needed your attention....Do you want your collar off?" David said seriously.

The man just stared at David for a second. The question seemed to catch him off guard.

"What?.....oh....you must be another one of those crazy guys that think they can take it off and escape. All of those usually die.....unless they can convince some other fool to let them experiement on their collar. Your not touching mine....so fuck off," the man said when turning back around.

"Oh you sure that you want to ignore me," David said as he reached up to his own collar and pulled it off.

The two other men on Chuck's crew stared at David in amazement.

"He just fucking removed his collar," one of the men shouted to Chuck.

Chuck turned back around to see the scene. His mouth fell open at the sight.

"Yes and I can remove yours too." David said as he reached up and touched one of the men's arms. The clasp at the back of the man's collar snapped open. The man was shocked and elated.

Although David had never done this before....he knew it was going to work. When he had escaped with Lili, David had cloaked her in darkness with the Shadow Concept and hidden her life signs with the Death Concept. If the Death Concept caused his own slave collar to snap off then it would definitely work for other slaves too. When he touched the man's arm, a brief pulse of his power had shrouded the man's life signs and tricked the slave collar.

The man was more than excited as his collar clanked to the ground. Actually, David had to reach an arm out thinking he was going to run off down the tunnel in excitement.

"Now wait a second. I have a plan to free everyone.....so you can't escape just yet...Do you know any slaves that will give me trouble if I try to set the free? I have been watching you three for a while now and know that you can be somewhat trusted." David asked seriously.

"Ya....there are a few that would rat you out if they found that you could remove your collar," one of the men said after thinking a few seconds, "they are the ones that like to suck up to that trash Helio."

"Okay, I will deal with them then," David said resolutely.

"If I free you all, do you have any objections to participating in a revolt against this town?," David asked while looking at the three slaves.

"What's your plan?," Chuck immediately asked cutting to the chase, "I need to know some details."

David understood. A slave revolt was a risky endeavor. They could all die gruesome deaths if something went awry in the planning.

"The plan is pretty simple. I will kill off all the guards below ground and set everyone free. I can also kill a good portion of the guards above ground to limit risk. I also have confidence in winning against two of the Demigods guarding this town. One of the Demigods will be a problem, but I should at least be able to escape alive after you all have fled," David said before continuing.

The men just stared at David. Basically said that he would do all the heavy lifting.

"To be honest, I have no way to help you guys besides removing your collars and clearing the road of some of the dangers. Once I am done here, I will leave the town and go into the desert.....but I can not take you with me. You will have to fend for yourselves," David said.

"So....we will just have to stay here until the town's reinforcements arrive and kill us all," Chuck said with some discouragement in his voice.

"Not necessarily. I found a section of tunnel that is very close to the surface of the desert. So close that you could dig out into the desert with little effort. The location is about 10 miles away from here. I would recommend using that section of tunnel as a base in the desert temporarily. We could blow up the mines at this location to cover everyone's retreat. No one in the town should know where the tunnel comes out at....because we will make them think we destroyed the mines entirely. That section of the cave is very nice. It even has a small spring for water. If managed appropriately....if a source of food could be found....it should be able to be a nice home," David said. He had explored most of the tunnels.

"Oh....." Chuck said while thinking, "that could be helpful."

"While you think about it, I will leave for a while to go pickup a present for you guys. I'll be back in the next day or so." David said.

"Oh....and I'm sorry but you will have to put the collar back on temporarily....can't have the guards thinking something is wrong," David said as he picked up the slave collar and handed it back to the man.

David could tell he was reluctant. But the man put it back in after only a little hesitation....he must have understood the big picture.

_____________________________

After speaking with the first group of three slaves, David visited a few of the other miner groups that were not currently under the supervision of guards. Most visits went the same way. Some were much more eager....to the point of immediately wanting to attack guards.....Some were not as sold on the idea....but went along with it anyway.

At the recommendation of several of the groups, David avoided two groups of slaves that would probably maintain their loyalty to Head Guard Helio if given the chance. These men weren't worth saving in many of the men's opinions.

Later in the same day....about the time the slaves were being told that they could sleep for the night. David started to come back around to the groups of slaves.

He approached Chuck's group of slaves first.

As soon as they were allowed, the three men had quickly passed out from the stress....their overworked bodies not able to hold their eyelids open any longer than needed.

After observing the mine slaves for the last month, David had realized that his treatment as a mine scout was ten times better than those that worked in the mines to remove ores. Any slave sent to work in the mines wouldn't usually see the light of day for the rest of their lives.

David really didn't want to wake the poor men, but he needed to see if this would work.

"Hey. I am back with your present," David said with a smile while waking up the men. David was trying to give them some hope to get away from the nightmare of the mines.

David squatted down next to the men and took out a fist sized stone from his satchel. It was a small Stone of Strength. The three men didn't get excited. They didn't seem to realize what the stone could do for them.

"This is a Stone of Strength. If you absorb heavenly energy from this stone, then your physical strength will increase pretty significantly. It will help strengthen your entire body. If you practice Body of Strength or sone other body skill, I would suggest that you circulate the skill when absorbing the energy," David said while reaching forward. He began removing each man's collars. With a quick cycle of Death Concept, David could trick the collar into thinking that the slaves were dead. The collar would drop off with ease.

After rubbing their necks where the collar had been sitting, the group of three slave immediately began absorbing the heavenly energy from the stone. After about 10 minutes, the first slave released his hand from the stone.

"I can't absorb anymore.....and I feel great," he said before punching out with his hand.

"My strength has increased by at least 200 pounds," the man said amazed, "that stone is awesome."

David smiled. The happiness on the man's face was evident. David felt like he was doing something good.

Soon after the first man, the other two men came out of their cultivation. Both had grins on their faces. They hadn't felt this strong since they had become slaves.

"Alright, now that that is done. I will tell you my plans," David said, "I want to stage a full scale revolt in this little oasis town. In the world above, there are only around 1200 residents of the town.....but there are easily another 200 slaves. I plan to take out most of the guards with some special skills that I have. Then I will battle the Demigods," David told the men his entire plan.

"As I said, you will need to fend for yourselves after the battle. But during the battle, I will need your help. I can not deal with all the residents and guards....and I can not free all the slaves. I am not asking for you to go on a killing rampage or to save anyone, but remember....if anyone from Manca City were to come here, they would probably put all remaining slaves to death. As a group, you all will need to try to establish your own foothold in this desert. It will be difficult, but you should be able to do it. When the revolution happens....Gather as many supplies that you can. Kill as many guards as you can. Save other slaves if you can. Then gather back here in the main tunnel chamber until I arrive.....or if worse case....flee if I don't arrive quickly. In the next few days, I will be attacking the guards down here. I don't expect any trouble. On the day after the guard shift, 10 days from now.....that will be our day of escape."

David answered a few more questions from the three slaves. Then he helped them put their collars back on. He would be back in 10 days. They needed to bear with the collars for just a little bit longer.

David repeated this process with the other groups of slaves. Eventually, he got to all groups of slaves except the two that were pointed out as potential problem causers.

Although the slaves maintained their usual tasks, there was an unseen excitement of energy in the tunnels. Everyone was ready to escape.